Download evidence links calcium supplements to heart attacks

More evidence links calcium supplements to heart attacks
Calcium supplements, widely taken by older people to prevent bone fractures, may be doing more harm than good, a
large new study suggests.
Researchers tracked nearly 25,000 European adults for 11 years, and found that people who reported regularly
taking calcium supplements were more than twice as likely to have a heart attack as those who didn't use any
supplements.
Only the use of calcium supplements, and not overall calcium intake, was associated with an increased risk of heart
attack. In fact, people who consumed higher amounts of calcium from foods, such as milk and other dairy, tended to
have a lower risk of heart attacks than people who consumed less.
The new study, which appears in the journal Heart, adds to the preliminary yet growing evidence that calcium
supplements (1) may harm the heart. Since 2010, two separate studies that re-analyzed existing data have reported a
similar link between calcium supplements and heart attacks.
"Calcium is an important mineral," says Sabine Rohrmann, Ph.D., the senior author of the new study and an
epidemiologist at the University of Zurich, in Switzerland. "However, we probably do not need mega-doses of
calcium and the current recommendation" — 1,000 to 1,200 milligrams for most U.S. adults — "can be met by a
balanced diet that includes (low-fat) milk and dairy products" (2)
Older people who don't tolerate dairy products well could try mineral water or calcium-rich vegetables, such as
certain types of cabbage, Rohrmann adds.
Why is calcium from food any different than calcium from supplements? Experts aren't entirely sure, but one factor
may be that supplements tend to release their calcium in a single flood rather than a slow, steady stream.(3)
Calcium, along with cholesterol, is one of the substances that contributes to the hardening and narrowing of arteries
(atherosclerosis). For reasons that remain unclear, when calcium levels spike suddenly, the calcium appears more
likely to end up in plaques that line artery walls, a major culprit in heart attacks.(4)
"People who take supplemental calcium have a surge in [blood] calcium levels, and we know that surge increases
calcium uptake in atherosclerotic plaques," says Christopher Cove, M.D., assistant director of the cardiac
catheterization lab at the University of Rochester Medical Center, in Rochester, N.Y.
On the other hand, Cove says, "Calcium from your everyday diet is digested slowly, and it's also not the high
concentration you get from tablets."
For now, though, there are more questions than answers. The new study, known as an observational study, is the
first of its kind to look at the link between calcium supplements and heart attacks, and it has several important blind
spots that will need to be explored in future research.
Notably, only about half of the supplement users in the study itemized which vitamins and minerals they took, so the
authors likely missed some people who took calcium supplements, potentially skewing the results. And only about
1.5% of the study participants had a heart attack during the study, limiting the power of the findings.
In addition, as in all observation studies, unknown factors may have contributed to heart attacks. Although the
authors controlled for a wide range of health measures and behaviors, it's possible that calcium-supplement users
were more vulnerable to heart attacks for reasons that had nothing to do with the supplements.
Even these tentative findings could lead doctors to reconsider the use of calcium supplements, however.
Many postmenopausal women take calcium supplements to preserve their bone health as they age, but as an editorial
accompanying the study suggests, the effectiveness of calcium supplements in preventing bone fractures appears to
be so modest that it may not outweigh even a potential, still-unproven heart risk.
"Recommending calcium supplements may not be the right thing to do," Cove says.
Copyright Health Magazine 2011
Notes:
(1) Calcium supplements are mainly in the form of calcium carbonate, which is mostly obtained from limestone
deposits and is not in a food which the body can absorb. The study suggests that calcium supplements (in the
form of calcium carbonate) may be a causative factor in the increased risk of heart attack.
(2) The average North American daily intake of calcium from food is about 700 mg daily, so to meet the
recommended daily requirement, about 400 - 600 mg of a supplement is recommended. SOURCE
Optimum & Osteo Mend provides a daily dose of 400 mg of Calcium Amino Acid Chelate in divided dose.
(3) SOURCE Optimum & Osteo Mend recommends a divided dose, morning and evening.
(4) SOURCE Optimum & Osteo Mend tablets provide the concentration of calcium that approximate the
levels found in food so there is no “spike” which could trigger plaque buildup.
Comment:
Vitex is well aware of the concerns regarding calcium supplementation. It is a well established fact that calcium
does not act alone in the metabolic process. Co-factors are absolutely essential. This is a reality that the majority of
marketers of calcium supplements ignore. Calcium requires a host of other nutrients to be bio-available to the body.
These include magnesium, silica, boron, vitamins A, C, D & K. SOURCE Optimum provides the balance of
essential nutrients at the optimum levels and in the most bio-available form to provide maximum benefit over ones
lifetime.